3 dioceses drop foster care lawsuit

Catholic Charities to end service rather than work with parents in civil unions

November 15, 2011|By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter

Calling off legal efforts aimed at keeping Catholic Charities of Illinois in the foster care business, three Roman Catholic dioceses have dropped their lawsuit against the state, agreeing to transfer more than 1,000 foster care children and staff to other agencies in their regions.

The decision by leaders in the dioceses of Joliet, Springfield and Belleville ends a historical partnership between Illinois and the charitable arm of the Catholic Church, which inspired the state to address child welfare in the first place and led to the creation of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

It was announced the same day America's Catholic bishops unveiled a new national religious liberty committee at their annual meeting in Baltimore, condemning government mandates that require the church to comply with laws that violate church teachings.

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki said the decision to drop the lawsuit enabled the central Illinois diocese to redirect its energies toward serving the poor instead of a protracted legal battle.

"The silver lining of this decision is that our Catholic Charities going forward will be able to focus on being more Catholic and more charitable, while less dependent on government funding and less encumbered by intrusive state policies," Paprocki said.

Since March, state officials have been investigating whether religious agencies that receive public funds to license foster care parents were breaking anti-discrimination laws if they turned away openly gay parents.

In discussions after the civil union bill went into effect in June, representatives for Catholic Charities in Joliet, Springfield, Peoria, Rockford and Belleville told the state that accommodating prospective foster parents in civil unions would violate Catholic Church teaching that defines marriage between a man and a woman.

Pointing to a clause in the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act that they believe protects religious institutions that don't recognize civil unions, the agencies said they would refer those couples elsewhere and only license married couples and single parents living alone.

But lawyers for the Illinois attorney general said that exemption only shields religious clergy who don't want to officiate at civil unions. The policy of Catholic Charities violated state anti-discrimination laws that demanded couples in civil unions be treated the same as married couples, they said.

In July, the state declined to renew foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities. A transition plan for more than 2,000 children began with a deadline of Nov. 30.

Ottawa-based Youth Service Bureau of Illinois Valley agreed to take all of Catholic Charities' cases in Rockford. In Peoria, a separate child welfare agency was formed to take all of Catholic Charities' cases and provide a seamless transition for children.

With a deadline looming and no judge willing to halt the transition process, the remaining three agencies decided to call it quits.

"The action of the state forced the end of this case," said Peter Breen, an attorney for the Thomas More Society, the firm representing Catholic Charities. "Time was our enemy in this, unfortunately."

In order to prevent any interruption to its current foster care cases, Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois has broken off from the Diocese of Belleville to form a new entity called Christian Social Services of Southern Illinois.

Glenn Van Cura, executive director of Catholic Charities in Joliet, said he's hoping another agency will step up to replicate the Rockford model.

"We'll cooperate to the nth degree to make it happen whenever they want it to happen," Van Cura said referring to DCFS, which will oversee the transition. "That's it for us. We'll bend over backward."

A spokesman for DCFS did not return calls for comment Monday.

Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Chicago ended its foster care services in 2007 after losing its insurance coverage. Cases and caseworkers scattered to several agencies.

Joliet Bishop Daniel Conlon said he was confident that the generosity of Catholics would limit how much the agency relies on public funds in the future.

"It is their commitment, rather than tax dollars controlled by government officials, that makes Catholic Charities truly Catholic and charitable," he said.